#jennoa

[fandomcentral101]

Noa Olivar and Jen Fox

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin 2x04

[graciedart]

finally home and working on commissions once more!

this is jennoa, a half elf ranger from our yp game :’> 

[thewritinghouseofinsanity]

The Life and Times of Constintain Helsigg (D&D backstory)

Early life for the man known as Constintain wasn't very remarkable. Raised in a very normal Vistani environment, living in the roving caravans with his family and clan as they traveled across Leafsveil. His parents were pretty normal for Vistani though of course they had their vices. After living this life for sixteen years he decided that this life was much too boring so he decided he would make his way on his own. 

He made his way alone for a while but eventually he would find some excitement. While he made his way across the continent he would enter a town that was being visited by a traveling carnival named “The Crimson Cavalcade”. He was absolutely captivated by everything there was to do and see in this one little event and he was particularly enraptured by the acts of the acrobats and jugglers as he was pretty dexterous and good with throwing knives which he felt was similar enough to juggling. At this point in life he had a bit of a theft problem as he had nearly no money and felt like he shouldn't have to pay for the things he wanted. This caused problems before but this particular time when he laid his eyes on a magnificent pair of pistols hung up in one of the private tents it would get him into much more than he bargained for. 

When he was sure he was alone and unseen he made his way into the tent and snatched the firearms he saw. He would then attempt to make his way out of this tent, but as he made his way out he would believe he was scott free. He would quickly be proven wrong as the handle of a cane caught his shoulder. Standing behind him holding the end of said cane was a man with black, shaggy hair clumsily hanging over a furrowed, wild face. Glinting blue eyes, set dreadfully within their sockets, and scars reaching from the top of the left cheek, running towards his upper lip and ending on his left cheek. Sitting atop his head lazily was a dark top hat and he would look down at the young Constintain. 

He would bring him back inside the tent and make him hand over the guns he had stolen. After this he would introduce himself as the Whipmaster Crowe Lockwood and the owner of this traveling circus. He would then give him a choice, he could either report Constintain to the guard of the town and have him arrested for theft or he would pay off the transgression by joining his circus. This would confuse Constintain, but he didn’t turn down this offer as he definitely didn't want to be arrested and he also already wanted to join this cavalcade of misfits. This would be the beginning of 10 years of hell for the Vistani. 

Almost immediately he would begin training as an acrobat and juggler as he had wanted, but he would also be taught many more things. He would be tutored on the finer arts of thievery and eventually as more was revealed to him about his new “family” he would be taught the art of inflicting pain and killing. This was no mere traveling circus as it had seemed to outsiders, no this was secretly a traveling temple of Loviatar The Maiden of Pain. They traveled around the continent setting up these shows as if they were a normal circus but they were always just a front for secret meetings for the faithful of Loviatar. In an off limits tent high ranking members of the church would be able to revel in the pain of the lower ranking members as they are made to perform acts similar to the normal circus but using equipment made to be extremely tortuous to use. The acrobats would swing from jagged and rusty bars, the juggles would have to use jagged blades, dancers would be made to dance on paths of broken glass, ect, ect. 

Those who failed to perform satisfactorily would be presented to Whipmaster Lockwood for direct punishment that would last for days. When Constintain wasn’t performing for the civilian audience, being made to perform for the church members, or practicing for hours on end  he would be sent out into town or into the crowds gathered at the circus to steal valuables and pick pockets for much more profit than the circus made on it’s own. During this thievery he would develop a fascination with artifacts of historical or cultural significance and would often steal things of that type for himself as long as they were small and easy to hide. He wasn't allowed to have his own possessions as a part of the circus so he would have to constantly hide his collection of nick nacks. 

After ten years of this he would become more and more rebellious against this system which would net him more and more punishments from the Whipmaster. The day of his twenty sixth birthday someone would finally inform the Whipmaster of Constintain’s personal collection and in turn the Whipmaster would go to have these items taken and added to the circus’s funds. When he would attempt this Constintain would decide this was the final straw and when Lockwood came he would strike out at him in an attempt to save his items and partly to free himself from this congregation. He would be swiftly defeated in this attempt and as this was a major infringement against the church and the Whipmaster he would be slated for punishment. This time though it would be the longest and most gruesome punishment he had faced yet. He would be subjected to constant torture for weeks on end. Eventually after one month of pure hell his punishment was decided to be over as the Whipmaster finally decided he would bleed him dry. Of course it was a slow process as the Whipmaster drained him of every drop of blood before throwing out his lifeless corpse into some muddy roadside ditch as they traveled to their next destination. 

His death was the first time he had a true escape from the years of tortue he had to endure. His soul would be left waiting in limbo for what seemed like forever and he didn't really mind this. As this happened to his soul his body would be stumbled upon by pilgrims traveling to a temple of the Raven Queen. When they found the corpse they took it with them as they believed nobody should be left without a proper burial and funerary rites. It took many days for them to reach their destination, but through divine magic they kept his body preserved and kept his soul from fully departing before he could be given the proper rites to usher his soul to where it belonged. When finally brought to the temple his body would begin to be prepared for burial and the rites would be given. Though this act of ceremony the Raven Queen’s attention would be brought to the soul of Constintain who was just enjoying the peace of death. This would peak her interest as there were very few who would be so relaxed and content in death as he was. 

Possibly just on a whim she made the choice that one so peaceful in death deserved a second chance to live a good and peaceful life, and one such as this could be perfect to bring this peace to others who must pass. With that she would send his soul back to his mortal shell and at the same time would give an end to the pain his body felt as he returned, whispering to him “Take this child, a second chance for life. May the peace you felt in death lead you to seek others that require it in life”. With that he was reborn and brought into the fold of the Raven Queen. For a while he would be confused and wouldn't know what to do with this new lease on life. For a few months he would attempt to be part of the traditional clergy of the Queen as a priest, or a cleric but this proved to be far too restrictive for his free spirit. One night he would be visited by his Queen in his dreams and she would give him an offer, he could make a pact with her and pledge his soul eternal to her service. In her service he would need to search out people in need and places where untimely or unwarranted deaths would taint the afterlives of those lost. In those places he would bring an end to the problems plaguing the souls and introduce them to the way of the Queen in ways that were less overt and forceful as priests or clerics. By helping those people and leaving small hints that this aid was given by the power of the Queen he would be able to bring more people to her flock and through the powers she would give him he would be able to right the wrongs that affected the souls of the dead. He could take up this mantle or he could choose to be free in his choices in life and continue to live as free as he liked, but that life was not assured to give the fulfillment or salvation he seeked. 

He would take the deal offered by the Raven Queen and would become her warlock. He would take up the task she gave him and would begin to travel across the continent as he had done before. This time he looked to find people in need and souls in trouble. As he went on these adventures he would come across others that decided they would join him in this mission for reasons all their own. Some did it for coin, some for the thrill, and some for the feeling of accomplishment, but they all came together regardless. In the end the party came to be composed of five members. 

Constintain the Vistani Rogue/Warlock

Ysabel the Tabaxi Way of the Open Hand Monk 

Arimorn the Shifter Circle of Stars Druid 

Jennoa the Half-Elf Life Cleric

Yora the Vedalken Clockwork Sorcerer

          This party traveled together for the better part of ten years before they came upon their final adventure. After the ascension and then fall of Orcus there were very many powerful undead left around the world and Constintain's group were soke of the ones that worked to clean up that mess. Many ancient and powerful liches had come under the service of Orcus, and after his defeat were left to their own devices in a weakened land. Constintain and his party were sent in pursuit of one of these undead magi.

        This lich had made it's way down the coat leaving a trail of destruction as it went raising all that fell in its wake as thralls. It made it's way to a former pirate stronghold made of countless stolen ships at the cove hidden under an ocean cliff. The top of which housed an ancient fort which the pirates formally held but now served as the throne of the lich.

        By the time the party had caught their way though army of undead created by the evil wretch they were already wounded and exhausted. They had been forced to fight through the cove of undead pirates and up the passages into the cliffside citadel where they would finally confront their quarry on the crumbling battlements. 

          The fight would be a hard fought one but quickly became a war of attrition as the lich began by focusing fully on the cleric Jennoa as it knew she would keep the party in the fight. It would bombard her already wounded form with spells before uttering a single word and causing her to fall dead on the spot. With her dead the next target was the druid Arimorn and they would be stunned in place and be left to slowly suffocate in a cloud of poison gas before they could change their form.

         With two of the five dispatched so quickly the remaining party were pushed back close to the edge of the cliff with a wave of thunder from the lich. The sorcerer Yorra would attempt to fling one of his most powerful spells at the abomination but it easily countered his spell and responded in turn with a thin green beam that pierced the Vedalken between the eyes before refusing his body to dust. 

         Now only two were left Ysabel the monk and Constintain. They had been backed up to the very edge of the cliff by the lich as it seeked to toy with its prey for a while longer. Seeing their situation was unwinnable Ysabel would make Constintain's decision for him. She would look to him and say "I'm sorry friend, but you're destined for bigger things. Let's meet again once this is all over". After her farewell was given she would sweep Constintain's legs from under him and push him off the cliff down into the cove below. The last he saw of her was her running towards the undead wizard with a cry of battle. 

          The next thing he remembered was an impact, the sound of splintering wood, pain, and then darkness. He remembered this darkness engulfing his mind for what seemed like an eternity before he finally awoke. When he did he was in the crew quarters of a ship. He had been nursed to health by the crew of a trade vessel and when asked the captain told him they found him adrift at sea, the only one aboard an old rotting ship that seemed to have once been used by pirates. They told him that they would be docking at Holtwick and he could go aland there and look for more aid there.

        When he arrived he would come onto town and begin a downward spiral of theft and drink. Stealing and taking jobs tomb raiding to get money that he would throw away for booze. He would live this way for years before his skill at finding ancient relics would be noticed by a local archeologist's guild. They would hire him to find relics for them instead of private collectors or undesirables. This was the push he needed to get started back in a positive direction. He would do this work and would eventually begin to steal the artifacts he got for the collectors and criminals before to give to the people that would use them for the right things.

         This is what he would be doing for the rest of his years in Holtwick, putting his former life of adventure as far away in his mind as he could. Though since the day he failed to defeat that lich, and abandoned his pact with the Raven Queen she would stop speaking with him and would even stop listening to his prayers. So there he would be for years until the day he decided to steal a relic from some powerful in Holtwick and would hitch a ride with a group of adventurers seeking to kill a god. 

[bladekuroda]

DM Tales from the Yawning Portal: Filler + Dead in Thay prologue

Upon returning from White Plume Mountain, the party met up with Elisande once more to report their findings. Satisfied with their work, she dismissed the party so that they could go get some rest. Over the course of two weeks, the group did some various things.

Lan tried to find a suitable partner for Blackrazor to no avail. He did keep him relatively satisfied on crabs in the meanwhile. 

Quibble set up a free healing station, basically. He almost got into some trouble due to a lack of permit, but it was handled without issue. Lan and Crow both assisted with setting things up with him. 

Jennoa followed up with Shun about the assassin that tried to kill Magnolia. Apparently the hit was put out by a Thayan due to rumors that a noble in Reckless Abandon having some connects to a masked lord of Waterdeep perhaps. She also went on a bounty adventure with Gylikos where they tracked their quarry into the sewers below Waterdeep. They almost ran into the Xanathar but managed to get away before much could happen.

Mudd learned more about the material plane and met a female aaracockra barbarian by the name of Clarr whom she got along with very well.

Crow tried to get people some gifts... it didn’t work too well. Quibble tried to help him out a bit.

All the while, the party picked up on a couple rumors of their own. Ones involving Thay. In particular, the Thayan Ressurection, which was a resistance group within Thay working to overthrow the current hierarchy. 

Eventually, Jericho called the group to do a favor for him. A friend of his was opening a magic shop soon and needed some help moving stuff around. He sent them on his behalf. Unfortunately when they arrived to the place, it was in complete disarray. The shop had been ransacked, and there were several shriveled bodies.

Quibble walked over a fallen tankard, only to have it shapeshift into a black... mimic thing. More objects in the room turned out to be this strange undead mimic of sorts. And in the back room, they found a larger creature made of the same material, along with an undead beholder. They also found Jericho’s friend, dead.

As soon as they were all taken care of, the party suddenly found themselves being transported elsewhere.

Into Thay.

There, the leader of the resistance, Syranna, greeted them. Other members of Reckless Abandon were also present, including Elisande, Erynnia, Shun, Jericho, Vincentio, and a few others.

Syranna explained to them the situation in Thay, and how there was now an opportunity to deliver a massive blow to Szazz Tam by destroying the phylactries of some of his elite liches within the Doomvault. Those present agreed to assist.

She told them the various entry points in which she could send them. Our main party chose the Far Realm Cysts to be where they were to begin sowing chaos for the Red Wizards. Elisande and Eryannia were headed to the Ooze Grotto. Jericho, Shun, and Vincentio decided to head to the Abyssal Prisons.

After questions were asked and everyone was set, they took their glyph key and set off through one of the black gates.

When we next meet, the party will dive into the heart of Thay. The Doomvault. It’s one hell of a dungeon. A mega dungeon one might say. I hope Reckless Abandon will be ready.

[thomsong93]

I have created an Instagram account in relation to my online listening 7cups account. I go by the fake name Jennifer and screen name Jennoa, as I have done so for over a year. Here I want to post resources, mental health information and helpful quotes (No not the joke quotes I do unless I am making a point!) Feel free to visit anytime or contact for any support. I work best with depression, stress, social anxiety and D.I.D (multiple personality) disorders. Follow at @jennoa2017_7cups - Thank you 💙 https://www.instagram.com/p/Bq4Y0CkFJlFd6AQhV31Acgti0yll-UFLZmKKN80/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=oknq09mzlc1h

[fandomcentral101]

Jen Fox and Noa Olivar

Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin 2x05

[fandomcentral101]

I know I am one of the few, but I'm really feeling Jenoa/JenNoa

[bladekuroda]

DM Tales from the Yawning Portal: Dead in Thay part 1

Here we go, straight into the Doomvault. An assault onto a Thayan mega dungeon. What could possibly go wrong?

Well they were greeted by a bunch of undead, as they appeared in the Warren of Eyes. The zombies were little issue for the party though, especially after Quibble completely demolished a number of them while channeling his divinity. When they explored further in, they found something considerably more challenging.

They found a cavern filled with slime, and eyes could be seen all around the room, staring at them. Before long, a beholder revealed itself and attacked. Two of its eyestalks were maimed beyond use. All in all, no one really got hurt too bad. The Beholder did a pretty good job of keeping the party under control, but wasn’t actually able to harm them for the most part. And the party had trouble hurting it.

Shortly after the combat broke out, it stopped to ask what they were doing there as they didn’t look like Thayans. Jennoa, who was currently charmed by the creature, gave up the whole deal. Once it learned of their plans, it offered a truce. It fetched a spare glyph key and demanded the party give it some attunements. It wanted revenge on the Red Wizards, as well as to leave and return to the underdark. After some debate, the party went ahead and transfered what little key attunements they had.

The beholder initially had trouble going through any of the gates. It had apparently been cursed by the wizards to keep it from being able to escape its area. Quibble was able to remove that curse, and then off it went.

After it left, they found a white gate into the Prison of Filth, and passed through. It was literally a garbage dump on the other side. Complete with a family of otyughs. They demanded food, which Crow conjured up some fake food to give them. The distraction didn’t last long and they soon turned on the party. It wasn’t until after one of the young was killed that the fighting came to a  halt. Gylikos managed to intimidate the family to stand down lest the rest of their young be slaughtered. Crow helped with him having a fear spell up affecting most of them.

In the next room, the found 20 skeletons. They were just standing there. They couldn’t figure out what the skeletons were doing, but they were chilling around, watching them as they moved about the room. When they came across a contact stone, they were able to get in touch with Syranna. She had some news from one of the other teams; the one that had gone to the Abyssal Prison sector. They learned there was some sort of life restoring necromantic magic in the Master’s Domain, and that there was an area called the Temples of Extraction, which weren’t actually temples but were some sort of research facilities. They also informed her that a Beholder was on the loose somewhere now.

Nearby, in another room, they found a summoning circle. They felt they shouldn’t mess with it, though, and  left it be. As they lacked the proper attunements to go beyond the Prison of Filth at the time being, the backtracked and headed into the Lake of Madness zone. There, they met an Aboleth. Delphina polymorphed into a huge giant crab... and snapped it in two. Literally. 

With that threat taken care of, they explored a little further and found a room filed with colorful lights and a number of undead. It was then that we ended for the evening.

So far the assault is going... okay. I’ll have to see where they go next. And what secrets they’ll learn.

[bladekuroda]

DM Tales from the Yawning Portal: White Plume Mountain Part 3

The group had taken a long rest. During this time, Delphina returned, with Quibble and Gylikos bamfing out. After resting up, they went back to the inverted ziggurat and were able to get out without much issue. Crow used his new found boots of springing and striding to bound his way up. Delphina transformed Jennoa into a giant eagle to carry people out one at a time.

Eventually they returned to the center point, and decided to take the northern tunnel. As they came upon a flooded room of sorts, both Crow and Mudd found themselves charmed by a pair of kelpies. Mudd didn’t really have much issue, being able to breathe in water. Crow, on the other hand, began to drown.

But over all, the crew was able to get rid of the two kelpies without much issue. And so they pressed onward, finding a spinning tunnel covered in oil. Thinking it might be fun to slide through, Delphina went on ahead in giant octopus form.

The ride turned out to not be fun at all, as a flaming arrow came flying out to ignite the oil surface. A werewolf wizard also came out to fight.

Mudd created a wall of water to try and break up the flaming spinning tunnel. It sort of worked, given that it was an oily fire.It was able to basically collect the oil and flames into two points at the top and bottom. Before long, both Snarla the werewolf (I know) and her human ally were slain. The party was able to take a short breather before moving on.

They came across a set of flood doors. And very cautiously, they proceed onwards to find a sort of membrane tunnel into a boiling lake. A huge giant crab waited for them, with a chest nearby. Delphina turned into a giant constrictor used speak with animals to try and communicate with the crab. She, with the help of Mudd, managed to get it to back down to an extent. Jennoa and Magnolia fetched one of the dead bodies to distract the giant scavenger while they looted the chest.

Within was a lot of treasure.

But more importantly, it was Wave, the legendary trident. Though it was, like Blackrazor, in its weakened state. Mudd claimed it immediately, and Wave seemed more than happy to join up with the triton.

Reckless Abandon now have two of the three weapons. One wing of White Plume Mountain remains.

[bladekuroda]

DM Tales from the Yawning Portal: Filler Episode 3

One ten-day has passed since Reckless Abandon returned from the Hidden Shrine. Spirits were a bit low after the death of Sovereign, but thankfully some good things were on the horizon for them.

A  young genasi wizard by the name of Crow appeared in the tavern asking for Reckless Abandon. After some confusion and ... well. A lot of confusion, the others managed to learn that a Wizard group known as the Conflux had apparently sent him. Though it wasn’t until when they fetched Jericho that they learned he was apparently sent to maybe help with the whole White Plume Mountain ordeal that Jericho and the other higher ups in Reckless Abandon are trying to sort out before deciding what to do. 

Crow was added to the roster at that point.

Also sometime during all this confusion, an invitation had appeared in the tavern. It was mostly for Durnan, but that didn’t matter. Elminster invited them all to a murder mystery dinner party. Yes. That Elminster.

Jericho sent them off, thinking it’d be a good team building exercise.

And thus the party eventually ended up in Elminster’s pocket dimension where they were greeted by his intern, Diz. Diz lead them to the drawing room to wait and mingle. There, they met the elderly Mrs. Owlbear, the broody Trevor, and the relaxed Thea. Jennoa did not want to be there.

After some chatting, Diz went to check in on Elminster, only to soon let out a bloodcurdling scream. It turned out that Elminster actually just died. And thus the investigation began.

Delphina cast speak with animals to speak with Elminster’s pet fish... but they really had nothing useful to say. Though they did assist with giving the password to his clockwork bird, unintentionally. With that, they were able to hear a short playback of his latest recording, which seemed to capture the moment of his death. Magnolia had also found and identified a soul gem... which seemed to have his soul inside. Maybe.

Through their investigations, they eventually found a necromancy spellbook that had a picture of Trevor and Elminster when they were a bit younger. They learned his real name was Roger, as well. And so they went to confront the man... who turned out to be the culprit. He even gave a little monologue. Trevor went onto the offensive, casting a cloudkill onto the group. He was soon restrained with an ensaring strike by Jennoa, and then slowed by Crow.

Magnolia found herself in a bit of a bind, as Thea turned on her, striking hard and fast. Lan was able to assist her quickly and took care of her assailant. Eventually, Delphina turned into a crocodile and bit Trevor/Roger in half.

After the battle, Magnolia found an assassin’s contract on Thea, but had no further clues as to why or who had put it out there. Diz suggested they take the soul gem to the temple of Mystra... as someone there might be able to help out Elminster. They stuffed the body of Elminster into a bag of holding, then went off to do just that. After some waiting, the old wizard returned to them and rewarded the party for their help. Then he basically dimension door’d  with Diz elsewhere.

And that was that for tonight’s filler. Next time we play once more, we’ll be beginning White Plume Mountain. Great treasures lie in wait.

[graciedart]

a commission for a friend in my dnd group :’D 

it’s her ranger, jennoa

[bladekuroda]

DM Tales from the Yawning Portal: White Plume Mountain Part 1

Harbinger, with the death of her mentor, had been called back to her monastery to continue her training to take Sovereign’s place. And so, a new adventurer has joined the fold of Reckless Abandon. A Triton by the name of Muddawryn who hailed from the plane of water at some point in the past.

Shortly after she  introduced herself, Elisande came down from the second floor to explain to the group their next task.

Vraz was to go to White Plume Mountain after dealing with Reckless Abandon. Elisande informed the group that about 40 years ago, a few people who owned certain Legendary weapons had their things stolen supposedly by Keraptis. A party of adventurers had attempted to retrieve them then but they never returned. The original owners of the legendary weapons have since vanished or died since then. Presumably these three weapons, Blackrazor, Whelm, and Wave, were still in the mountain. And most likely their enemies were looking to get a hold of those.

She sent them out to retrieve them first.

Jericho prepared the portal and off they went, arriving at a cave 2 miles from the entrance of the old wizard’s lair. They set off, finding the entrance without much difficulty. 

And much to Magnolia’s chagrin, once they descended into the depths of the dungeon, the ground had a foot of water and mud below that. The water was pretty nasty too, filled with subterranean algae. She had to be carried by Jennoa. Lan, who has a ring of water walking, wasn’t bothered in the slightest. And the new triton wasn’t bothered too much either.

The first creature they came across was a gynosphynx. She presented them with a riddle that Crow answered correctly immediately. Though she let them pass, the party took some time to give her a bit of care as she was looking kind of mangy and the like.

They started off with the western most path. Lan tapped the pole of trap find, and it pinged off. With that in mind, Mudd crouched down and began to feel the floor, soon finding the sudden drop in the middle. She warned the lot and they were able to swim their way across. But that wasn’t where the true challenge lied.

At the end of the hall was a long corridor that had multiple copper plates lining the wall. With some experimentation, they found that metal would be heated up as it passed through the plates.

Delphina appeared at this point, and she was debriefed of the situation. She put her sword into the bag of holding, and then both she and Crow went through the hall first. Though it got a little tingly, their lack of metal made it so they came through unharmed. They did, however, alert a bunch of ghouls in the secret room nearby as they sprung to attack.

Lan, noting the conflict ahead... quite literally blazed through the hallway. His armor became red-hot and he sustained a large amount of damage as a result. Jennoa had to stuff her sword into the bag of holding before she began to make her way forward without further issue. Magnolia, stuck in the mud, had to traverse slowly. Mudd dropped most of her things, but threw her primary weapon ahead before rushing forth.

The ghouls weren’t much of an issue at that point.

After they were taken care of, Quibble returned after his long absence. He was informed of the situation with the monks while he took time to heal Lan of the burns he had taken from the copper lined hall. While they were healing up, a pair of gargoyals appeared to attack but they were turned to dust without much issue.

The next room they came across was the frictionless room. 

Mudd cast wall of water into the second pit of razors to make it so people wouldn’t immediately fall and hurt themselves upon arrival. And so they took their turns to slip and slide their way across. 

They eventually came across a room with a floating stream of water and several kayaks. Quibble cast control water to control the flow of the stream as they took the boats (or walk/swim in the case of Lan and Mudd) to see where it led. When Quibble spotted people in another room, he slowed them to a stop. The group managed to alert this large mass of people. Sir Bluto Sans Pite and his men went up in arms and were ready for a fight. Though they couldn’t reach the party yet.

Delphina recognized the name, having belonged to a knight that had a large bounty on his head at some point.

The group decided to fall back for the meantime.

And it was there where we ended for the night. Will something be done about Sir Bluto? Or will Sir Bluto do something about them? Will they soon find one of the famed weapons of lore?

Will Lan and Mudd get into a bloodbath over who gets to use Wave?

Find out next time.

[bladekuroda]

DM Tales from the Yawning Portal: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan part 5

When we last left off, the group was in a chamber with a dias and a glass cylinder. A voice had called out to them all, stating they were in danger but there was a way to get assistance if they took the correct path.

The group as a whole prodded around the stairs, avoiding the one with the statue. Only they found themselves not really getting anywhere real fast. They also ended up locking themselves in. Eventually, they found themselves up the correct path... and fought the helmed horror that awaited them. Sovereign managed to remove its shield, while the others beat away at it. In the end, Lan was the one who managed to completely dismantle it with the magical whip he had.

Once the battle was over with, they tried to see how to continue on. The voice stated one who is clever must come forth with their best tools. In this case... Delphina with bug spray.

Apparently.

It worked.

Somehow.

Was it really the bug spray or was something else at play?

They will never know.

Once they were past the crystal, the voice spoke again, stating they needed faith in their gods from there. Quibble knew this and explained to the others. Lan sought deep within himself and channeled some of his divinity, which unlocked... something. A glyph dispelled, freeing a couatl, who was incredibly grateful for their assistance. Before leaving, it gifted the party with several magical items, before returning home to the celestial planes.

 The party began to take a rest at that point. Gylikos took first watch, but towards the end of that watch, he heard a soft snarling from somewhere behind. He alerted the others without turning around. Once the others woke, they soon saw Sovereign in the middle of a transformation into a half-jaguar creature.

Quibble quickly acted and the lycantropy was removed without issue.

The rest of the rest went well.

They continued on to the next chamber, finding that it was a large... diorama of sorts. Sovereign quickly learned to avoid stepping off the cobblestone path as she started to bleed profusely from the nose upon walking onto the sands. Jennoa, being as free spirited and curious as ever, made her way up the chute in the center of the room only to find a hungry spider waiting for a meal to wander by. And thus Reckless Abandon had an awkward fight with a giant spider in a small tube. It ended with the spider falling out, dead, bringing Lan down with it. But no one got hurt too badly.

There was a heated discussion of where to go next, and it ended up with them going through the tunnel at the top of the chute.

Within the next room were a couple of wells. Delphina, now in giant spider form, had spotted the remains of a dead crayfish in the brackish water of one. Feeling pity for the dead creature, she fished it out... awakening the water weird that was actually the well. But it wasn’t really that big of a deal for the group, and they were able to press onwards.

Into a room with a lot of treasure and a mummified centaur at the center. Through various means, they managed to determine that this thing was undead. Or will be. It wasn’t exactly animated yet. They didn’t know what would cause it to wake up, however. So rather than taking chances of it just suddenly awakening and surprising them all... they took the initiative and set a surprise for it.

By setting it on fire, super heating the gold chain it wore, and stabbing it to death before it could do anything else.

One could say that fire was super effective.

They went through the jade wall without any issue... and even salvaged some of it to sell later. It was a big wall. 

We ended the session with Lan using his 10ft pole of find trap within the corridor. And indeed, it sensed a trap.

We’re pretty close to the end of this dungeon. But who knows what might be awaiting them?

((All images done by @djfox31))

[bladekuroda]

DM Tales from the Yawning Portal: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan part 3

The party went on to finish their short rest, then moved into the hallway that Jennoa had discovered. They had several doors to choose from. Also Gylikos appeared in the place of Sovereign and Harbinger once again.

Delphina and Jennoa worked together to bash in the southern door, only to end up falling into the next room... and being teleported back into one of the previous hallways of the dungeon. It took them a moment, but they soon recognized the place. Thinking that maybe the others would soon join them, they moved out of the way. Unfortunately, Delphina ended up setting off another trap, in which several horizontal bars appeared to create a holding cell of sorts for her. Being a druid, she took the time to turn into a giant octopus, having Jennoa give her a flask of water to take a deep breath from before doing what octopi do and escape the cell.

Meanwhile Quibble had opened the set of double doors only to have several crossbows triggered and firing at him. He came out unscathed, but it was alarming nonetheless. Deciding that it was not a good idea to head into the large room with a coffin alone, he looked to see Magnolia going into the space and vanishing away as well.

Gylikos didn’t want to be left alone to babysit the dragonborn cleric, so he tried to push him into the portal. Quibble managed to latch onto him... and both ended up going through.

The party was then reunited back in the toxic gas area.

They explored a little bit, finding a silver coffer on an alter. After they spotted a trap, Gylikos used a grappling hook to expertly fish it in. From there the group moved on and found a room filled with many broken down clay statues, as well as a stucco cairn. Jennoa, Magnolia, and Delphina all wanted to bust the cairn open to see what was inside. Quibble wanted nothing to do with grave robbing so he wandered off with Gylikos to try and move a large stone block. It was too heavy.

The others did break into the cairn and found many valuables, all for purpose of ‘archaeology’. They also ended up releasing a wight in which they were able to dispose of without too much trouble. 

Afterwards, they all spent quite a bit of time just to push the damn stone block uphill. It did nothing but make them feel good about themselves. 

They eventually returned back to the room with all the cat stuff, and then went to check out what was in the room Quibble had opened up. Delphina went in first. Slowly. Still in giant octopus form. A wall of fire appeared behind her, immediately burning Quibble pretty badly. And then a doppleganger popped out to attack her!

It... was going to turn into her and try to take her place in the party. However... Delphina was a giant octopus currently. Doppelganger cannot turn into octopi. It was not expecting an octopus. It didn’t entirely know what to do. To make matters worse, Magnolia had decided to leap through the flames, taking significant damage in the process. When she saw the blue skinned alien looking creature, she attacked. And the doppelganger’s day was only made worse when the giant octopus managed to grapple it from 10 feet away. He couldn’t move anywhere. Others leaped into the flame once they realized something was going on, and this poor doppelganger was killed before it could really do anything. Its master plan had failed miserably.

They took some time in this room, picking it clean of its treasures. After that, they decided to take a rest in the cat room. During this time, Gylikos fussed with the silver coffer, and ended up activating the copper figuring within. It began to fly around, always out of his grasp, no matter how hard he tried to catch it. In general, they took time to rest, and looked over some of their loot to determine what was what. Delphina took a ferret faced feathered mask, that was effectively a mask of disguise. And Jennoa took what she believed to be a Stone of Good luck.

They had also figured out some necklaces to be ones to help protect an undead from Turn Undead effects. 

They continued on. Jennoa peeked into the northern room, seeing a large ogre like statue with a panther sitting in front of it. Delphina went to see if she could communicate with it at all, turning into a panther herself. The moment she did so, the panther narrowed in on her and attacked. But Jennoa killed it before it could do much else.

They examined the room further and Quibble was able to distinguish the statue to be an oni in particular. But there wasn’t much else to discern from it. Gylikos and Delphina investigated the light well in the room. They found that tossing some stuff into it, caused light to flash and a voice to question them in giant. Unfortunately no one knew giant. 

Gyl, thinking he could use the liquid light, went to fetch some of it. Slowly, the liquid light began to spread across his body. It wasn’t until a little later while they were exploring some of the other halls that it ended up covering his face and eyes and caused him to start suffocating. Thinking quick, Delphina cast create water to wash him down. It worked.

In the next  area, they found the room completely caked with ash and dust. Reckless Abandon soon found that phantoms of the past would rise up forming in the ashes before dissipating away. They were cautious of the two guards that stood in their way, but were able to pass through without issue. Before moving on, however, Quibble took some time to give all these souls some final rites. 

The next room turned out to be large and filled with rubble. But most importantly, some fresh air and a bit of light from the outside. There were also some angry baboons. Again, Delphina went to see if she could deal with those at all, expecting some trouble. But unfortunately trouble, in this case, came in the form of a giant two headed snake that was hiding in the rubble. The party was able to deal with it without too much trouble. And the baboons that came down to attack afterwards were also no match. They found some goods among the rubble, and it was then that they began to question the stone of good luck that Jennoa had found and attuned to. When she was not willing to depart with it, Quibble went on and removed the curse from her, breaking her away from what was actually a stone of Ill luck.

And it was then where we ended for the night. The party still has not quite yet found any sign of an exit, and there’s still plenty of dangers for them to bumble into ahead. There’s been a few close calls, but nothing too dire.

Not yet, anyway.

[bladekuroda]

DM Tales from the Yawning Portal: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan part 4

When we returned with our heroes, Delphina and Quibble have vanished. Lan, Magnolia, and the two monks poofed in turn. They caught each other up on what happened, then continued on through the doors that had a symbol of the snake they had just slain last time around. Lan also tried to stab up into a small opening in the ceiling, misty stepping his way... but it wasn’t quite enough.

They went down a corridor, then went up a set of stairs. Lan attempted to use the 10ft pole of trap find, but it didn’t trigger anything... in the other hall. As they headed on up, Jennoa ended up triggering the glyph of warding which caused a large stone statue of a dragon to roll out and breath boiling hot water at them all.

After some debate on how to deal with this trap, a few of the group first attempted to jam the dragon’s opening with some arrows, before Sovereign just went on and broke up the floor with an earth tremor. Thankfully, the ceiling did not come down onto them either. 

They moved on, did some sweet flips, then continued forth. As they moved down the hall with Jennoa taking point, she spotted a green impish creature with a large sack upon its back. It came out of a portal. And that bit of magic seemed to cause a flux as a tabaxi appeared out of nowhere too. The gremlin snatched something from the tabaxi before promptly fleeing. The party began to fight the gremlin... noting that it actually dropped a decent amount of gold each time it was struck. They also found that it was a slippery little bastard that couldn’t be held in place.

Sovereign was able to identify this as a Greed Gremlin (totally not a treasure goblin). And her demon hunting instincts kicked in. The group cornered it, well most of them. The tabaxi ran off to collect fallen coins for the most part.

In the middle of this fight, Delphina returned from the ether. And after some team effort, they managed to kill the greed gremlin and cause a loot explosion to occur. Many coins were to be had.

After that, Reckless Abandon took a breather. And during this they found some secret passages. Also Sovereign found the tabaxi, named Mouser, who was a ... peculiar cat. He seemed surprised to find that everyone was real. In the meanwhile, Jennoa entered a room with a basin full of golden liquid, and a bunch of mirrors. Some experimentation showed that things put into the basin were turned to gold.

Also the mirrors were basically all traps. Magnolia made an ochre jelly friend. Lan saw himself get eaten by a shark. Mouser took a bath, then promptly freaked out.

Gyl and Sovereign looked into the last mirror, but opted to not touch it or anything like that.

Jennoa wanted to check out the opening that the ochre jelly had been inhabiting. 

There was a statue of an octopus with a gem inset into it. Mouser ended up getting stuck to the stone... and went for a ride as the statue began to quickly spin. Sovereign managed to jump onto the top of the thing, but ended up losing her balance shortly after... and also went for a ride.

The others tried to see what they could do to safely free their friends. Delphina started to slow it down with an entangle spell, and then Lan finished with his channeled divinity to slow the statue down enough to allow for Mouser to get free and then climb up and snatch the gem. The statue stopped spinning altogether, but then the poor tabaxi started to dance and spin uncontrollably. Sovereign smacked the gem out of his paws with a tonfa, and that was that.

After they got out of that whole debacle, they decided to start exploring the next secret passage. Again, Jennoa took point and she ended up getting caught in a fight with a phantasmal killer spell. She managed to defeat it, however. The group went on into the next room, finding a peculiar setup. As they entered, a voice spoke out to them, cautioning that others who have trespassed have perished, but they have a chance of saving themselves if they complete the puzzle of the room.

And there was where we ended for the night.

They fought a demon that gave a shitton of gold. And triggered... a lot of traps. But they’re uh... okay for the most part. They really did walk into a lot of traps tonight though. Really.

[bladekuroda]

DM Tales from the Yawning Portal: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan part 1

It’s about time that the party face with a truly old school dungeon, as this particular module was originally from AD&D. We started off going over with what some of the crew have been doing in the past month that served as down time. 

Delphina did some scouting work for the guild, coming up only on a dead end lead in Cormyr. She at least got paid a small sum, however. Gylikos was off doing bounties here and there. Quibble was helping some folks around town and attempted to further a sort of friendship with Tseng, one of the rival guild members from Fatechangers. Sovereign spent some time with the mother of the vampire spawn they had murdered, spent some quality time with Jericho, and got herself a small bag of colding for plant gathering. Jennoa mostly converted her two dire wolf pelts into other goods. One became a wall adornment while the other became arm and leggings. And finally, Magnolia spent time with the mages college in Waterdeep, going into a deep study of the fey.

When we came to the present, a new paladin sought to join for adventures. Lanwick. And it was then that one of the Reckless Abandon scouts came bursting in, exhausted after returning from a job in Maztica. Her partner had vanished, and furthermore, she returned with news that there were sightings of Ulric Ironsledge, one of the founding members of Reckless Abandon. One who had died several years back.

The present party thought it may be good to do a sort of rescue mission, while also checking out the hidden temple that the scouts had found. There weren’t too many details about it that they were given. It was built in honor of Zotzilaha, a vampire lord that the locals worshiped as the god of the underworld. Shun warned the party that such a place was likely to be riddled with traps and curses, then requisitioned the group some healing potions as well as a couple scrolls of comprehend languages.

The party took some time to stock up on additional supplies, then returned to Jericho who sent them off into the far off jungles of Maztica.

There, Sovereign was able to pinpoint several poisonous plants and creatures, warning her party to not touch or eat such things. Given how many things are poisonous in the area, Dephina decided it was best to bolster a couple of the party members with a protection from poison spell. The temple wasn’t too far off from where they were. And such they began to move. 

Delphina tried to check for pit traps along the way... but unfortunately it wasn’t a pit trap exactly that got them. The ground was just shoddy and unsteady and they ended up all falling deep into the belly of the shrine, with a rockslide cutting off the exit.

There were a few things that they noticed immediately. One, when Lan attempted to light a torch, it seemed weak. The fires struggled to remain lit. Also the air irritated them as they breathed; a sort of haze was all around them. Sovereign was able to identify this as a toxic gas. The party began to seek a way out, starting by looking over the various figurines and dioramas in the room that depicted ancient Maztican life.

At some point, Sovereign was able to find a key in the hands of one of the figures, and used it to unlock the door leading out. They moved carefully, seeking out traps. And sure enough Jennoa spotted a pressure plate that Gylikos was able to disable. When they came upon the double doors of brass depicting kelp, they carefully swung it open... to find a giant crayfish staring them down.

Lan, excited to see an aquatic beast, immediately cast speak with animals to communicate with the crayfish, learning that it was really unhappy with the intrusion. While he was trying to diplomatically resolve this situation, the large rock in the room stirred, as the giant hermit crab known as Kalka-Kylla awoke. When the giant crab began to speak in Maztican, Sovereign took the time to cast Comprehend Languages and then there was a really awkward 3-way translation party as she translated what Kalka-Kylla said, Lan translated what the party wanted to the Crayfish, and the crayfish relayed this to Kalka-Kylla.

It worked out in the end.

They promised to give the two big crustaceans some fresh meat, and left them both with some rations in which they were happy to begin eating.

They went to the east first, finding a large stone blocking the way. Lan quickly discovered that the walls were highly acidic and should not be touched. The party, for now, decided against messing with the large stone, then went to the west where they found several broken statues of old gods and a silver pyramid. They continued on their way where they came across a 12ft statue with a nice sword strapped to its back.

Lan attempted to yank the sword free with a whip but... couldn’t quite get it to budge. When the party was taking too long, Magnolia just huffily started to climb up... and subsequently caused the statue to topple over towards Delphina. But hey, they got a really nice sword out of it, and a few gems to boot. Also it revealed a secret tunnel.

As they proceeded along, they heard a melodious tune. Sovereign, eager to see what it was, made her way in, where they saw a singing Nereid. This nereid dove into the water but shyly spoke to the group. She seemed to understand common, but only spoke in Maztican. As she urged Sovereign to stay in her pool with her, she quite literally took her breath away.

And battle broke out. Lan, who has a ring of water walk, charged out onto the pool, where he was met with a giant eel surging up from the waves. The nereid hid into the depths of the water in the meantime. Gylikos went to try and get to the next door and picked a lock that was already unlocked in the first place. Delphina entangled the hidden nereid and turned into a giant octopus to battle with her and the eel.

Said eel also turned out to be an electric eel as some of the party found out the hard way.

But electric or not, both it and the nereid still took quite a beating, especially as Jennoa basically ripped the beast a new hole. With both of them on their last legs, the nereid surrendered, offering the party a large sum of treasures hidden at the bottom of her pool.

And that was where we ended for the evening. The party has to decide what to do about the water fey and her large pet, and continue on to find the missing scout as well as a way out of this temple in the first place. Toxic gas is still filling the air they breathe, and there’s no telling when that’ll lift exactly.

Well. They don’t, anyway.